Only a dream
by shadowkat678
Summary: Five year old Harry James Potter of Number Four Privet Drive isn't normal, that much he knows. They've never told him why, but he's just a freak. It's a fact. In his life not much happens to look to, but there is one thing. He dreams, dreams of a strange bearded hero who swoops in and saves him. But a dream's all it is, a dream of a castle and his hero. A Dream. Nothing more.


**"Only a dream"**  
><strong>By: Shadowkat678<strong>

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, if I did however, the Dursleys would have gotten what they deserved.<strong>

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><p>Five year old Harry Potter of Number Four Privet Drive was not normal, they had told him that much for as long as he could remember. He was a freak, and that was just a fact of life for the boy.<p>

His family never told him _why_ he was wrong, he'd only asked once, and after the incident that resulted from it Harry didn't dare ask a second time. But after being sent to bed without supper for the third time that week he found himself lying on his small uncomfortable mattress, staring up blankly at the cracked ceiling, and wondering _why_ all over again.

Why was he different? Was it his messy black hair aunt Petunia always fussed about? Was it his duct taped glasses Dudley constantly broke with his pudgy little fists? Was it the strange scar his uncle always stared at?

Little Harry unconsciously patted his hair down over his forehead before pulling out a small beat up action figure he had hidden beneath his pillow. Harry would get yelled at if they found it, he knew, but he also knew that they wouldn't find it. They never ever came to visit him, just banged on the door real hard to tell him when to come out and what to do, and his cousin wouldn't even know it was gone. He had too much stuff to care much about it. Besides, none of them wanted to come near his space, or the numerous bugs crawling around inside, and so it was perfectly logical to the boy that his small closet like room was the best hiding place for his newly found treasure. In a strange turn, his cupboard had become the safest place he could be. They'd _never_ look inside!

He wasn't sure who the figurine was supposed to be, but to Harry, he thought it looked like a hero. It had a red cape with a big "S" on the suit, and superheroes wore capes, didn't they? He was pretty sure they did. He had a dream about a hero once, or at least he thought that was what the man was. He had super powers too, and then he came and took Harry away to his home and told him that Harry had superpowers just like him! The man could fly and teleport and do all kinds of cool stuff, just like all those weird looking people on his cousins cartoons, and then he even told Harry he would teach him to do it too! But that was just a dream, and it was a strange on too. His uncle didn't approve of things that were strange.

The little child heard voices and footsteps clomping on the tiled floor of the kitchen outside, and his stomach growled when he realized it was already dinner time. He never got to eat with them, or have what they did, but maybe if he hadn't gotten scared and fell onto the birdbath earlier he wouldn't be so hungry. He didn't mean to, honest, it was Dudley! He'd snuck up on Harry when he was watering the flowers and made him fall! He couldn't say that to his aunt and uncle though, they'd just yell at him some more. He didn't like being yelled at. Maybe when they were all asleep, he could go out to the kitchen and find something they wouldn't miss, like Dudley with his action figure.

The little boy yawned and rolled over, smiling as a small spider struggled to climb over Harry's wadded up sheets. He wasn't scared of it like his cousin would have been, but just put his hand out and let it crawl into his small cupped palm before depositing it safely on the other side. Maybe the little boy was imagining it, but it almost seemed as if the tiny spider waved to him before leaving. He waved back and laughed. Before he knew it, his eyelids grew heavy and he was fast asleep.

He dreamed about his hero again. He had on a really strange outfit, with a big pointy blue hat and a long beard and a weird cape thingy. He was nice too, and even gave Harry sweets! Harry told him that he wasn't allowed to have them, but the man just laughed and gave it to him anyway. His eyes twinkled too. Harry liked that. Then the man rescued him from the cupboard and took him home to his giant stone castle! There were others like him there, and they all looked pretty funny too, but Harry didn't mind. He liked it, they made him giggle.

Then they said he was like them, and something about a M word he didn't know. Harry didn't understand that part at all. He was a freak, but these people weren't, at least he didn't think so. Freaks were supposed to be bad, but those people weren't bad at all! They cared about him, which he also didn't understand, but it felt good that they cared.

Maybe his mom and dad were there too, maybe the man with the pointy hat had rescued them, and maybe they _didn't_ die in a car crash like Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon said! Maybe when the car crashed he showed up and rescued them, but then the pointy hat man couldn't find Harry because he was so small back then, so when he was bigger the man found out where he was and rescued him! Maybe he could find his real parents and stay there forever, maybe he'd never have to go back to his aunt and uncle, maybe-

"_BOY! GET UP_!_" _Harry started awake at the yelling, rubbing his ringing ears and scrambling to get out of bed. He could feel heat building in his face, and the tears pricking behind his green, sleep filled eyes. It was all a dream, he dreamed it again, and he was still stuck with the Dursleys. Harry was still in the horrible house, with his horrible relatives, with his horrible life.

He held back his tears as the door flew opened and his Uncle's beet red face glared down at him as he was trying to pull on his socks. Harry hurried out, still with only one sock, without looking him in his eyes. He wished the strange man would really come and save him, would really take him away, but Harry wouldn't cry, he wouldn't. Not in front of _them_. He had be big and strong and brave like his hero. No, he _was_ big and strong and brave like his hero! His birthday was last week, so that meant he was five now. He was too old to cry!

And so it went that for the next six years of his life it would be the same routine day in and out, but by his eighth year they would have found the small toy, and without it Harry would have almost completely forgotten about his hero by his tenth year. Until, that is, the day came when his dream came true, and little Harry Potter would find out that heroes do come, and what being a hero truly means. Then his dream would really begin...

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><p><strong>AN: Really freaking short, I know. I normally don't do any less then 1,500 at the least, but I couldn't really make it **much longer without interrupting the flow, so it is how it is.** I was trying to make it sound as childlike as possible, since this is five year old Harry, and it isn't a style I normally write in. I hope you all liked it regardless. Don't forget to leave a comment, it helps boost self-esteem!**


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